She’s a Mil

I probably should be writing about Christmas and New Year and all the big news that we have (and I will do that soon) but I just want to get in the last movie and

Movie 9 - Avatar
This movie was very cool. Not life changing or anything but enjoyable. It was very beautiful and the 3D effects were very special I thought. This movie is about humans going to anpother planet to mine some valuable mineral. However there are some indigenous creatures on this planet whose homes are going to be destroyed in the process. Some humans get to know the indigenous creatures and one of course falls in love with one so they fight to protect them. The ending is predictable and while I was very pleased of course that all ended up ok part of me was hoping that perhaps it wouldn’t. Because in real life it has not been a happy ending for indigenous people, their land and meaning has been taken from them. Perhaps if this had happened in a fictional story such as this that had people so emotionally involved people may be more aware of what is going for indigenous communities around the world. Maybe not but you know what I am getting at.

Book 14 - “On Rage” by Germaine Greer.
This was a pretty small book, a long essay really about rage, specifically about the rage carried by indigenous men. It may be surprising to know that a book written by Germaine Greer was actually quite sympathetic to men and very well thought out. She basically made the point that indigenous men are drinking and being violent because they are filled with rage. While white men indigenous women have been able to hold on to some of their traditional roles and meanings through child birth and raising the men have almost totally lost their roles. She argues that alcohol restrictions and all other programs etc etc that are implemented are not going to work unless we create a space for this rage to be expressed (and maybe this won’t even work). She feels that the NT intervention actually creates a bigger tension between indigenous men and women and drives a wedge between them as it often portrayed as been about white people protecting indigenous women from their men. However she is quick to point out that white men have certainly not been portectors of indigenous women. The whole stolen generation basically amounts from the rape of indigenous women by white men. It is a bleak book but an important one I think.

So 14 books read and 9 movies seen in 2009. Not a bad effort really, especially as I managed to see more movies that Howie.

Every second Sunday (or something like that) they show a more alternative film at the cultural centre here in Alice. My mum made me go and see with this with her (and you can read her thoughts on her blog too). I assured her after it that I would not be going to see a movie with her again unless she had thoroughly researched it. This was definitely one of the more unpleasant experiences of my life. An hour and half of nothing but a group of men walking through the Tasmanian wilderness getting cold and hungry and then when they got too hungry there was a gruesome killing until there was only one left and then it ended. There was the occasional dialogue which is apparently good quality but that was fairly inaudible. People also say the scenery is amazing and I guess after a week of 40 degree heat I should have enjoyed seeing green, cold and rainy Tasmania but I was so tense with it, knowing what it was causing the men to feel and become that I could not even enjoy that. I guess that was the director’s aim so people say that it is a “good” movie but to be honest I find it hard to agree when all you want to do it get out there. That they didn’t glorify violence was perhaps the only positive thing I could come up with in the discussion after the film and that they let you have a beer in the cinema, something I am enjoying more and more in this heat.

Martin and I saw this movie last Monday. I wouldn’t say I loved it but it was enjoyable. They very cleverly managed to not do the predictable thing but also not make you feel sad or crappy. Unlike most romantic comedies I walked out feeling good about my relationship. I also liked the actors and the music. I guess the problem was I just didn’t think it was that funny and they were perhaps trying a little bit too hard.

Speaking of movies Martin and I watched the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy again this weekend. It got very hot over the weekend and we weren’t up for much more. Especially as we had slept out again on Friday and only got maybe 4 hours sleep. Anyway, what fantastic movies they are. I have watch them all about three times now and I am still not sick of them.

I didn’t think that I would have any Westerns on my movie list this year but movie 6 Apaloosa is a Western. I guess it is good to not always follow our stereotypes. I saw this movie on my last day in Darwin. In Darwin they have what is called the Deckchair cinema. Outdoor cinema, like in Sydney but much funkier and less commercial. I really wanted to go and it was between Apaloosa and Bruno and given I think I would rather pull my eyes out than watch Bruno Apaloosa was it. Perhaps it was the the beautiful back drop of the Darwin coast and the most delicious lebanese food ever with a glass of wine that put me in a positive mood but I thought it was quite good. It had Viggo Mortensen in it from Lord of the Rings who I think is very gorgeous. And was a fairly interesting look at life at that time

Book 8: The Sound of one hand clapping by Richard Flannagan.
This is probably one of the most heart-wrencing books I have ever read. It begins in Tasmania in the 1950’s with a young girl whose mother committs suicide, and her immigrant, alcoholic father who is trying to desperately to escape his brutal past. He then bashes and beats his daughter til she finally leaves. 20 years later she returns to see him and the story resumes again. As you can imagine very depressing but it is beautifully written with redemption at the end. Transformation and redemption are key themse for me at the moment so it hit home in some ways and so I actually quite enjoyed reading it. Here is a quote I really liked:
“There was something about Bojan Buloh that strange evening something that approached the most curious innocence. As if innocence, thought Sinja, were not something one had before it was lost, a natural state into which one was born before life sullied it forever, but rather something that could only be arrived at after one had journeyed through all the evil life could manifest. He was lost and condemned to loss, he was damned and lived with the damned, but somehow, somehow because of what he had lived through he had acquired an innocence.”

Movie 4: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
I liked it although I was glad I had read the books. It missed so much which didn’t overly trouble me as I was able to fill in the rest for myself but Martin asked me a few questions after which made me realise that it would have lacked much without having read them. Like others have said I thought the first kiss was fairly poor but I can’t complain about anything else. I thought the child Voldermort was the freakist child and Snape and the other “baddies” as usual outshon the “goodies” but they didn’t do too badly either really.

Internet is not working at our place. I guess that is the price you pay to live out of town I suppose but it is very annoying. Especially as I have so many post running around in my head. But as I am paying $1 per 15 mins for internet I am not going to be able to do them any justice but here is a quick version.

I am still here in Alice. I am working for a cafe and going to do so until the right teaching job comes up. It is going okay really and it still leaves me with much time for being, waiting, listening and what John calls “sitting down” which I think incorporates all those things. I am trying to live something of a monastic life with three daily prayer or meditation as well as reading time. I don’t always succeed but we are not supposed to beat ourselves up about these things. I am also going to try and go up to the hut each month for 24 hours for what Sue calls “postinia”. Basically means going away in solitude to pray. Plan the first one for the weekend of 20/21 (Jo’s wedding). Let’s see how I go.

My other little task has been to try and rid our property of cats. Magrita, our neighbours daughter broungt some home and now they have about 10. It is a problem for the natives so we all agreed to take them to the RSPCA. On the arranged day though when i showed up they weren’t there. I saw one cat though so I took it and thought well I’ll at least take one. Unfortunately when I got there, after a fairly long drive of cat continuously escaping teh basket I brought to put him, the cat jumpedout of my arms and ran. I tried to chase after it but I was too slow especially as it was trying to escape the dogs. Since then I have been fairly disheartened as my attempt to make sure teh cat didn’t go feral actually assured that it would.

Martin’s job is going really well though. He says it is challenging but not overwhelminly so. he really likes the people too.

We went camping on the weekend to the Finke Desert race. That’s a Motorbike race for those who don’t know. Not that I am that into motorbike racing but it was cool. They race on a dirt track from Alice to Finke and back. 500km all up and bumpy as. We watched from a small hill which many of them were jumping at very dangerous speeds. One of the things about the NT is there is a lot less OHandS to worry about. The fireworks been let off was certainly testament to that. It was a pretty wild crowd though so we didn’t get much sleep.

I also saw Terminator Salvation with Martin on Friday. It annoyed me how they make out throughout the movie that if they win this battle the war is over and then at the end they say that it is not. I also thought John Connor was annoying. Everytime he ended his radio broadcasts with “Im John Connor” I thought lame. In saying that I didn’t hate it. I am not a huge action movie person but I have always got into the terminator ones. Maybe becasue they started when I was a teenageer and I have been following sincethen. We also had a nice dinner. Our first restaurant meal here just the two of us.

While Martin and I were Byron Bay we went and saw this movie. I didn’t like it all. It was made by the people who did “Love Actually” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral” both of which I thought were quite funny, clever and human. This on the other hand was just filled with cheap jokes mostly crude and/or sexist by what I would call fairly cruel people.

Only my second movie of the year, that’s not much. John asked me after if I enjoyed it. I am not sure if it is the type of movie one enjoys, it was incredibly despressing but it was fascinating (although I am not sure exactly how much of it is really true). The main themes were George Bush’s early life and despite his family’s power the unlikely-hood of him becoming president and the Iraq war. Even though I know the outcome as I watched many of the conversations I found myself wishing them to go another way. Knowing that if they did all those lives could spared, the turmoil in Iraq and its consequences could be avoided.

The thing I found most confronting and most depressing in the film was its depiction of George’s faith. After the many discussions had between George and his top advisors he would demand that they all take a moment and then they would pray. I’m not against prayer obviously but to pray to Jesus, the prince of peace, the man who calls us to love our enemies and help those who are different, the man who went to the cross to die rather than take up swords, to pray to him after you have decided to make a pre-emptive strike on a nation for your own oil interests, hidden behind some moral grounds is one of the most truly blasphemous things I have ever seen.

On Tuesday I went and saw Slumdog Millionaire with John. David, Tom, Martin, John and I had dinner at our place and then we were all going to see a film together. Martin piked and as usual we wanted to see different things. Two fillms “The Wrestler” and “Slumdog Millionaire” were on at the same time so Tom and David went to the Wrestler and we went to Slumdog. I think I might try and do that more often. Too often I see films I don’t want to for the sake of togetherness and you hardly talk anyway.

I loved Slumdog Millionaire. They managed to show much of the tragedy of living in a slum in India without totally destroying me. I was able to cry and laugh and I loved the characters, the story and the shots of India.

However my experience of it was slightly tarnished yeasterday when I read in the SMH that the children in the film, who come from the slums themselves were not paid a sufficient salary. Rubina Ali the little girl was paid $1060 and Azharuddin Ismail, the boy was paid $3600. The director claims there is also a trust fund but the parents don’t know anything about and they are still living in the slums. I am conscious that these things are complicated and that there are consequences of young children going from extreme poverty to wealth in a day however, depite that I think it is wrong to take advantage of them and patronising to not pay what one would pay someone who had not come from the slums. It is wrong that while the film and thus its British director and his team make millions while these children live in the tragic conditions that film was exposing. They were particuarly exposing people who find children on the streets and teach them to be beggars and then make themselves rich on the money the children earn. As far as I am concerned what the directors of this film are doing is nearly as bad.